Expat wanderer

Wakulla Springs Boat Trip

At Wakulla Springs, everything is separate. Like the entrance fee goes to the State. The Wakulla Lodge is run by some corporation with a state contract, I am guessing, and the Wakulla Boat Rides are another separately run concession. If you are staying at the Lodge, or booked for the lunch buffet at the Lodge, you get into the Edward Ball Wakulla Springs State Park for free, instead of paying the $6/vehicle entrance fee.

The boat trip is half the fun. On hot days in the park, you can swim right in the same spring as the manatees, but on chilly winter days – take the boat trip. We took the boat trip twice, it is so much fun, and because we love the late afternoon light. I will share my photos of some of what we saw on the hour long trip below; warning you that trying to get a shot of an underwater manatee is not such an easy thing to do. You may have to use a little imagination to see the manatee :-) but I swear, it is there.

These are leathery buzzards, wintering in Wakulla Springs:

Great Blue Heron:

Little ducks called Koots:

Sunning Gator:

Close up of Gator skin:

Close up Gator head – he was so cold he didn’t even care about the boat being near, he just wanted to soak up as much sun as he could before it set:

Wakulla Springs Cypress:

The Wakulla Springs Lodge from the Springs:

Old fashioned swimming platform:

Buzzards roosting:

Turtle soaking up some sun:

Anhinga drying out his wings:

Merganzer Duck – don’t you love his helmeted head?

OK, there it is, the Manatee, otherwise known as a sea cow, a siren, and a sea slug – about the size of a small whale or a very large shark:

That’s the anhinga – his feathers are not water-repellent, so he gets soaked swimming after his breakfast and has to dry out, which he does by spreading his wings. If you are in Florida, these anhingas with their wings drying are a very common sight, posing for photos. :-)